Economy & Business

Under the Dome: Education Funding Update for Town Meeting Day 02/26/2024

Host Bobby Lussier, CCTV's Development Director, speaks with Representative Carol Ode and Senator Martine Gulick about school budgets and tax impact, and how these impact upcoming local elections.

To contact your local representative, you can find their contact information on the State's website.

For more information about upcoming Town Meeting Day 2024 coverage visit bit.ly/TownMeeting2024.

Junction City News: Essex Junction's FY25 Budget 02/26/2024

From the City of Essex Junction:

Host Regina Mahoney, City Manager chats with Raj Chawla, Council President, about the City's FY25 budget.

For more info: www.essexjunction.org/

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Committee on Government Operations - Review of VAN FY25 Request 02/23/2024

Review of VAN FY25 Request at the House Committee on Government Operations.

The committee is including support for VAN’s one-time funding request of $1m in their budget memo. Great job with your outreach to this Committee! Details on their discussion this week is below:

On Friday, the committee had a brief discussion on their budget memo. Chair McCarthy described VAN’s current funding issue - he said the committee will qualify their support that one-time money is needed but a permanent fix to PEG’s revenue source is also required (the draft does not have that, there is an incomplete sentence at the end of the paragraph where it was intended to go). RepresentativeBob Hooper asked if there was information about whether the revenue source will be stabilized, Chair McCarthy said there are some “interlocking tax policies” and the committee has had some updates but that House Ways & Means had not made any decisions yet. The Chair said we support VAN but we don’t have a fix for the revenue source.

House Government Operations Draft Memo:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/House%20Government%20Operations/FY%202025%20Budget/W~Michael%20McCarthy~FY%202025%20DRAFT%20HGO%20and%20MA%20Budget%20Memo~2-23-2024.pdf

Moments with Melinda: Interview with Tom Verner 02/23/2024

From Melinda Moulton:

Tom Verner is a practicing psychotherapist and professional magician, and was a professor of psychology at Burlington College for 35 years. He and his wife, Janet Fredericks, are the founders of Magicians Without Borders.

For more information visit: https://www.magicianswithoutborders.com/

Town Meeting Day Election Forums: Winooski School Board (Uncontested) Candidate Forum 02/23/2024

Candidates: Isaiah Donaldson* (3-Year), Elom Kpesse (2-Year), Nicole Mace* (Remainder of 3-Year)

Moderator: Meghan O'Rourke

For more information about upcoming Town Meeting Day 2024 coverage visit bit.ly/TownMeeting2024

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Democratic Caucus - Discussion of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees 02/22/2024

Discussion of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the House Democratic Caucus.

On Tuesday, in the House Democratic Caucus Representative Simms presented H.657. She said the bill had been stripped of the pole attachment provision and that this section will become a separate committee bill.

H.657 was voted out of the Ways & Means Committee with a 12-0 vote without the pole attachment tax this week.

Draft 1.4 H.657:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/House%20Ways%20and%20Means/Bills/H.657/H.657~Maria%20Royle~House%20Ways%20and%20Means%20Amendment,%20Draft%201.4~2-22-2024.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Committee on Government Operations - Review of VAN FY25 Request 02/22/2024

Review of VAN FY25 Request at the House Committee on Government Operations.

The committee is including support for VAN’s one-time funding request of $1m in their budget memo. Great job with your outreach to this Committee! Details on their discussion this week is below:

On Thursday, the committee discussed their memo to House Appropriations regarding the FY25 Budget, listing their priorities for the year. Chair McCarthy noted that he will draft the memo this evening, and share it with the Committee tomorrow. Then they discussed what they wanted to put in the memo. Chair McCarthy talked about PEG TV stations and local access, and recognized that Paul Snyder was in the room. VAN is asking for $1M to backfill the declining revenue from cable TV.

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Committee on Finance - Discussion of S. 181 Community Media Public Benefit Bill 02/22/2024

Discussion of the Community Media Public Benefit Bill S.181 at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Thursday, the Committee heard from Kirby Keeton, Legislative Counsel, for a walkthrough and Q/A on a new draft (1.1) of S.181 that would shift the revenue source from a pole attachment tax to a streaming content provider excise tax.

S.181 Draft 1.1:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/S.181/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20and%20Legal%20Documents/S.181~Kirby%20Keeton~%20Draft%201.1,%202-21-2024~2-22-2024.pdf

Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont House Committee on Ways and Means - Discussion of H.657 Modernize Vermont’s Communications Taxes and Fees 02/22/2024

Discussion of H.657 a bill meant to modernize Vermont's communications taxes and fees at the House Committee on Ways and Means.

On Thursday, the House Ways & Means Committee walked through a new draft of H.657, which as expected, had the PEG portions of the bill removed. Legislative Counsel Maria Royle noted that the pole attachment charge for PEG would be dealt with going forward as a Committee bill, and Chair Kornheiser said, “and that [bill] we will probably pick up next Wednesday.” On FRIDAY, the bill passed committee 12-0-0-.

Town Meeting Day Election Forums: Burlington School Commissioner (Uncontested, Wards 2, 3, 5, 6, 8) Candidate Forum 02/22/2024

Candidates: Polly Vanderputten* (Ward 2), Saja Almogalli* (Ward 3), Lucia W. Campriello* (Ward 5) (absent from recording), Clare K. Wool* (Ward 6), William R. Church (Ward 8)

Moderator: Elaine Haney

For more information about upcoming Town Meeting Day 2024 coverage visit bit.ly/TownMeeting2024

Featured Story

CCTV Receives NEH Grant to Support Community Archives

CCTV Center for Media & Democracy is pleased to announce receipt of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant alongside 32 peer archival institutions across the country. This $49,927 grant award will support efforts to preserve and expand access to audio/visual community history materials in the CCTV Archives. Read more about this opportunity here!